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“Hold on, what are you talking about? What is amazing?”

“That you will cover for me!” she squeals. “You are the best! I knew I brought you here for a reason!”

“Wait, Mona! I can’t do that!” I object immediately. Now it is all making sense. She wants me to cover for her so she can leave with Carson. So she can go do whatever with Carson, while I am stuck here.

“But you just said you would!” she pleads.

“No! I mean… I was just being nice. I don’t know how to do that! I’ve never been a bartender before. I don’t know how! And I don’t feel comfortable trying it out this way, with Ty being all creepy and stuff. I wish I could, Mona, but I just can’t.”

She grimaces and wriggles her nose. “Actually… I don’t need you to bartend, though. Like, if that’s the problem, you don’t have to do that.”

“What? I’m confused. So what are you asking me?”

She shifts uncertainly from side to side, tapping her fingernails against the plastic of the beer cooler. Another country song comes up, louder than the last one. I have to lean in to ev

en hear what she is trying to say.

“What was that? I can’t hear you!”

She rolls her eyes in frustration. “I said I need you to do the modeling, Libby. You don’t have to tend bar.”

Even though the bar is super loud, I feel like it falls almost completely silent.

“Hold on. Just wait a second,” I start.

She just stares at me as though we have some kind of psychic connection, which we do not.

“Mona? Explain it to me like I am twelve years old, okay? What is it that you need me to do?”

She stretches a little bit back and forth, clearly uncomfortable.

“You know how you picked out that nice bra and panty set tonight?” she begins again.

I just nod.

“Okay, so you are all set!” she explains, yet does not explain anything. “And you did shave all your nethers. And you did tan everything else. And of course you are gorgeous just the way that God made you…”

“Mona! Just spit it out!”

I am starting to catch on, but by golly, I want to hear her say the words out loud.

“The lingerie show!” she finally blurts out. “I need you to cover for me for the lingerie show. Okay? I don’t know why you want me to say it! You already know what I am going to ask!”

“No way!”

“Oh, come on!” she bawls. “It is no big deal! It’s just underwear! That’s it! All you have to do is strip down to your skivvies and walk around the bar real slow. The guys are going to give you a couple dollars here and there. You will probably make an extra hundred bucks!”

“Mona, if my father knew that you were trying to turn me into a stripper, he would find a way to have you used for target practice!”

Her expression darkens. “You know that is not funny.”

“Exactly!”

“But he’s here!” she whimpers, twisting around to stare at Carson who is now looking directly at us.

He really is handsome, and she’s practically vibrating with desperation.

“Besides, your dad doesn’t know where you are. And nobody here knows who you are! You know you’re kind of a freak. Isn’t it just a little bit exciting?”